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Tim Hortons coffee and cup
: If we had to collectively vote on a national drink, the creamy-sweet double-double would win hands down.

The franchise, named after and co-founded by Canadian hockey player Miles Gilbert “Tim” Horton, has become a fundamental part of our national identity and a ubiquitous part of the Canadian landscape. From tiny towns to big cities, nearly 3,500 restaurants are open across the country — with most providing a quick caffeine fix 24 hours a day.

According to company spokeswoman Alexandra Cygal, the coffee is sourced from various countries, including Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras and Colombia. After that, however, it becomes a made-in-Canada operation. “The coffee sold in Canada is blended, roasted, ground and packaged in Ancaster, Ont.,” she said, adding that all of the cups sold in Canada are also printed and formed in Ontario. The company was unwilling to share further information about suppliers.

Canada Dry
: It’s a brand that exudes the Canadian spirit in its packaging. From its name to the logo that shows a map of the country from sea to sea, it is only fitting that its origins are Canadian.

According to the company’s official version of events, the drink was created by Canadian pharmacist and chemist John J. McLaughlin, who ran a plant in Toronto at the turn of the 20th century, where he made soda water and sold it to drugstores to mix with juice and flavours to make fountain drinks.

After a number of experiments, McLaughlin perfected the recipe for the Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale in 1904. It was a lighter and sweeter version of the Belfast-style ginger ale he had been selling for years. He marketed it as the “champagne of ginger ales” and it became so successful that he trademarked the name in 1907. McLaughlin also developed bottling techniques that allowed him to sell the fizzy concoction wherever people gathered. He sold it in bottles marked with a label that showed a map of Canada along with a beaver.

A few years after McLaughlin’s death, the company was sold in 1923 to P.D. Saylor and Associates, which formed the public corporation, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc. The next substantial ownership change happened in the 1980s, when Canada Dry was acquired by Cadbury Schweppes of London. Today, the Canada Dry brand is part of Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. based in Texas.

Lay’s Ketchup Chips:
It is a Canadian novelty that is often overlooked. But long-time potato chip aficionados know the addictive flavour of Lay’s ketchup chips can only be found in the Great White North.

Sheri Morgan, communications manager for PepsiCo Foods Canada, confirms that ketchup chips were invented and only available in Canada, but says the story of how they came to be has been lost. (It’s probably worth noting that ketchup-flavoured chips are sold by other companies in the U.S.) According to Morgan, more than the recipe is Canadian. The chips are made at one of six PepsiCo plants in Canada, and Canadian potatoes are used in a process that takes about 10 minutes from start to finish.

Lululemon:
We love their laid-back West Coast attitude and the feel-good Canadian-ness the store seems to exude. It’s hard not to be swayed by a company that offers yoga lessons to its employees, classes for its customers and has given us a way to look good while sweating.

The Vancouver-based company started off in 2000 as others do: small, local and grassroots. Entrepreneur Chip Wilson set up the first shop near a beach, with a factory a 20-minute bike ride away, and imagined a hub where people could gather to discuss healthy living.

But staying local isn’t easy when your business takes off. According to the company’s 2011 annual review, approximately 49 per cent of its products were produced in China, 41 per cent in South/Southeast Asia, 3 per cent in Canada and the remainder in the United States, Peru, Israel and Egypt. Its trademark Luon fabric is supplied by a single manufacturer in Taiwan.

In the annual review, the company admits it’s a struggle to find a suitable supplier that meets its standards for quality, service, financial stability and labour and ethical practices. That became clear earlier this year, when the company was forced to recall its trademark pants after they were found to be too sheer. Lululemon blamed it on a long-time Taiwanese supplier, Eclat Textile Co. Ltd, which said the company had misjudged their customer preference. Since then, Lululemon says it has improved its quality control process and launched a website explaining their manufacturing philosophy.

Metal in Canadian coins:
According to the Royal Canadian Mint, the metal in circulation coins comes from a number of Canadian suppliers, as well as international ones, “to maintain an uninterrupted supply of metals at reasonable prices.”

But how much of the metal is local and how much is international? Spokesman Alex Reeves is discreet. “That is commercially sensitive information as we compete internationally for circulation coinage contracts.”

All of Canada’s circulation coins are manufactured using the mint’s proprietary multiply plated-steel technology — in which coins are composed of a sandwich-like core of steel, plated with alternating layers of different metals such as copper, nickel or brass. Steel, the primary metal in all coins, is mixed with nickel and copper on the nickel, dime and quarter, or alloys such as brass on the $1 coin and aluminum-bronze on the $2 coin. The alternating layers of metals make the coins resistant to damage, and the consistent thickness of each metal layer reduces the risk of fraud.

Since 2000, coins produced by the MPPS technology have been in use in 30 different countries, including Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Barbados, Ghana, Uganda, Panama, Papua New Guinea and Albania. Which means that not only are our coins truly Canadian, so are the coins being used in countries around the world.

Canadian Flag:
There is an unspoken rule among Canadians when it comes to purchasing a Canadian flag: thou shalt only buy one made in Canada. Or at least, that should be the rule. Nothing riles up the populous like the discovery that the flag soaring above us is “Made in China.”

Such was the case in 2009, when then-NDP MPP Peter Kormos discovered the provincial flags he had ordered through a government purchaser were made in China. His finding eventually led to an edict from the Speaker of the House instructing that all ensigns purchased on behalf of the province must be made in Canada.

But is there a difference between one made here and elsewhere? “There are obvious things: the bars won’t be the right size, the colour won’t be the right colour,” said Murray Jefferies, the chief operating officer of Flying Colours International, a century-old Toronto-based company that is the principal supplier of flags to the federal and provincial governments. “Some of our staff can tell at a glance.”

The company has 70 employees and prints and sews the flags locally. “We make every economic provision possible to be able to assemble and distribute these flags from a Canadian facility,” said Jefferies. “I think it’s very important that this is one symbol that unites the whole country, and our belief is that symbol should originate here.”

The BlackBerry
: There’s a special place in our hearts for the BlackBerry, the Waterloo-based company, formally known as RIM, which put Canadians on the map in the technology world.

But many have long wondered where the devices are made. And it appears it’s not an easy answer to track down. According to a Forbes article from 2011, the company had five global suppliers, most of which have manufacturing set-ups in China. But one of its suppliers, Jabil Circuit Inc., also has manufacturing capabilities in India and Ukraine, and expanded plants in Hungary, Malaysia, Mexico and the United States.

BlackBerry didn’t return our calls or questions, so we did our own investigation. A quick search behind the battery of four different devices bought in Toronto, including the Bold and the Torch phones, revealed a small “Made in Mexico.”

Roots:
The founders were two Americans inspired by Ontario’s Algonquin Park, and so they set out to create a company that would exude the same spirit of the great outdoors in its products. With its symbolic beaver logo, and stores that resemble cottages, Roots has largely achieved its goal.

Despite the high cost of manufacturing locally, the company says the majority of its leather goods and footwear are made in Canada. “We have a state-of-the-art leather goods factory in Toronto which will be celebrating its 40th anniversary this year,” said Robert Sarner, the director of communications. “But it’s been a long time since we made everything in Canada.”

He said most of the apparel is made in India, China, Peru and Italy. “It’s not just about economics . . . the manufacturing industry has been so decimated in Canada that we don’t even have the capability that there used to be 25-30 years ago,” he said.

All of the other elements, including design and quality control, are done locally.

“In an ideal world, we would love to make everything here, especially a company like Roots, where Canada is part of the DNA of the company. Unfortunately, it is sometimes not possible and practical.”

Canada Goose Jackets
: If there is one clothing company that has stayed true to its roots, it’s Canada Goose. The must-have fashion accessory for the past few winters has gone out of its way to keep manufacturing in Canada — and has publicly said that staying local has been a boon for the brand.

The company has two factories, one in Toronto and one in Winnipeg, and works with up to 20 others across the country. Almost all of its products are made in Canada — short of the gloves, which are produced in China. But the company is transparent about when it goes offshore, such as for fabric and materials. Even the down for the jackets is sourced from Feather Industries Ltd., a Canadian processor, and each jacket also uses Hutterite down, from the Hutterite communities in southern Alberta.

There is one cost to staying local: everyone wants to be like you. The company has been the target of counterfeiters.

We asked readers to send in pictures of something they just can’t live without that’s made in Canada. These treasures will make you feel proud, or at least snicker. See the photos at
thestar.com

Correction - July 3,
2013:
This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said John J. McLaughlin ran a plant in Toronto at the turn of the 19th
century.

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